A lawyer for the union of the state's firefighters argued before the state Supreme Court yesterday that the Local Government Center, which administers health insurance for thousands of municipal workers across the state, should reveal how much its employees earn.

Glenn Milner, representing the Professional Firefighters of New Hampshire, said the disclosure of that information is necessary because the center is a public body subject to the state's right-to-know law. The firefighters union suspects that the center is using money collected for health insurance for noninsurance purposes, including staff salaries and lobbying efforts. But determining whether that's true is impossible if the center doesn't open all of its books, Milner said.

"Our purpose is plain," Milner told the justices yesterday. "We want to follow the money."

The center is appealing a superior court judge's ruling that two of its subsidiaries are subject to the state's right-to-know law and that the center must disclose the salaries of all of its employees to the firefighters union.

Specifically, the firefighters want information on two organizations within the center: the New Hampshire Municipal Association, its lobbying arm, and LGC Real Estate Inc., which owns and manages the center's buildings in Concord.

The center provides an array of services to cities and towns that would be too expensive for individual municipalities to cover. Those functions include legal services and lobbying and advocacy at the State House. The center also purchases insurance for municipal employees using payments collected from cities and towns.

Christopher Carter, a lawyer for the center, argued that its workers are private employees and that the public has no right to know how much they are paid.

But the justices questioned why the center, having already been ruled a public body by the Supreme Court, could shield some of its subsidiaries from the right-to-know law. And since its employees were paid with tax dollars, which is how cities and towns pay the center's dues, shouldn't their salaries be public as well, some justices asked.

"Shouldn't all subsidiaries fall under the same umbrella?" said Justice Linda Dalianis. "The Local Government Center did not have to create these two subsidiaries. It could have performed these functions themselves."

Yesterday's court appearance was the latest episode in a lengthy dispute between the center and New Hampshire's firefighters union. The firefighters first filed a right-to-know request in 2003 seeking records of board of trustee meetings and contract information.

In 2004, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that HealthTrust, the benefits program administered by the center, was subject to the state's right-to-know law. The court noted that HealthTrust's members are exclusively cities and towns and that it enjoys the tax-free status of a public entity. In response, the center provided financial information, including a copy of its contract with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, to the firefighters.

Since then, the union has requested more information from the center, including documents from a staff retreat, contracts with consultants, financial statements for its building operations and detailed salary information for center employees.

Milner and other officials with the firefighters union question how the center supports a lobbying wing, employs more than 100 people and maintains its headquarters in Concord while collecting just $350,000 a year in dues from members. They suspect that the center is using money it collects in insurance premiums to support its other functions.

"We think the math doesn't add up," Milner said yesterday.

The center faces scrutiny beyond yesterday's court appearance. In July, the New Hampshire secretary of state's office demanded detailed records, including budgets, payment records and employee salaries. The center refused the state's request and has appealed to the Merrimack County Superior Court to rule that the secretary of state's office was overstepping its bounds.

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